Home Health & Hospice Week

Bidding on track to take effect Jan. 1. Nine areas of the country will see drastically reduced DME reimbursement and altered supplier availability in the new year. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has announced its bid prices for the durable medical equipment competitive bidding program that takes effect Jan. 1. On average, CMS will pay 32 percent less for bid items under the program, the agency says in a release. That will strip out $17 billion in DME payments over 10 years. For example: Concentrators will go from $173.13 to $116.16 per month under the program. Hospital beds will go from $127.12 to $80.35 per month. And diabetic supplies will decrease from $75.32 to $33.44 per month, CMS says in the release. "Few involved in DME believe that these rates are sustainable," says the National Association of Independent Medical Equipment  Suppliers. "It seems unlikely that suppliers will be [...]